Better Storytelling By Design

Mad Menagerie: Androcitar

Mucous coats a bulging purple mass of fleshy tentacles. The engorged tentacles emerge from a central tumor that stretches and contracts to move itself along. Throbbing sacs made of the same purple flesh are attached to the slimy cave wall, surrounding the beast. The monster tends these sacs, inserting its tentacles into them, and undulating until they spasm in a spray of green caustic sludge.

Androcitars are Aberrations that reside in damp caverns near the underground lakes from which they feed. Androcitars are asexual and territorial, which leads to adult androcitars to live solitary. However, when one reproduces it will share its lair with its clutch of a dozen or more young. These young attach themselves to walls of the cavern to be fed by the parent androcitar via its tentacles as we to glean nourishing minerals.

The androcitar usually moves very slowly by expanding and contracting its body, but can use its tentacles to propel its mass quickly through the air should the need arise. Androcitar young are also mobile and can detach themselves from the walls.

Androcitar young reach maturity after about four weeks and will then enter a chrysalis for a week while its body changes. A mature, but small androcitar will then emerge from the chrysalis in a wet splat of mucous and tentacles. It then moves on to find its own nest. Most young adult androcitars dry up, whither, and die before finding a suitable home; keeping their numbers low.

Erect Defense (move, encounter)
Most the androcitar’s tentacles become stiff, making it more difficult to strike the vulnerable tumor. The androcitar receives a +4 to AC but may only shift 1 square for the rest of the encounter.

Deadly Reach 2
An androcitar threatens all squares within 10′.

Summon the Clutch (move, daily)
The androcitar summons ten clutch sac minions that can be placed in a Burst 3 area.

Tactics

Androcitars are territorial and will defend their clutch to the death, however they will not pursue fleeing threats. The androcitar will attempt to avoid melee, using its ranged attack, Orgasmic Spray, and then its reach attach, Tentacle Strike most effectively by utilizing terrain to hinder opponents.

Once opponents move in, it will activate Erect Defense, Tentacle Fury, and finally Summon the Clutch once Bloodiedto overhelm and impose casualties.

Lore

DC 20: This is an androcitar, a rare asexual beast that dwells near underground lakes.
DC 25: The androcitar can blind enemies with it’s spray of sludge.
DC 30: The androcitar is territorial because it protects a clutch of young, which can come to its aid if it feels overwhelmed.

That solo seems a bit underpowered…definitely not enough hit points for a lv. 8 monster, doesn’t seem to do too much damage with any of its attacks and it only seems to be capable of one attack per round…looking at the MM, most solos have the ability to make more than one attack in a single round especially dragons with their claw-claw-bite attacks…you definitely need to at least get some action points in there…all solos have at least 1 action point to their name…

It’s ability to summon minions is a good one, but the androcitar still feels a bit underpowered…

@Reverend Mike: Yeah, its a fluff creature. I had initially thought about modeling it after the young red dragon (7th level solo), but I thought it was rough having PCs clobbered by a bunch of penises… I should have removed the Solo keyword.

On second thought, it would be hilarious to have PCs pummeled by penises, so I’ll make the current Androcitar a “young adult” and build an elder version that will be a Solo.